The Original Half-Life Is Possibly Getting Official Steam Deck Support

Valve may be planning to secretly add the official Steam Deck support in the original Half-Life. As initially spotted by @thexpaw on Twitter, the first title in the series is getting “proper Steam Deck support.” The Steam tracking page, SteamDB, was able to capture the changes for everyone to see. While backend updates are usually ignored, the lines directly seem to reference the Steam Deck. 

Looks like original Half-Life is getting proper Steam deck support https://t.co/r4pYsvq4nH pic.twitter.com/wKxW3YRn8O

— Pavel Djundik (@thexpaw) November 9, 2023

The timing of this rumor has also caused sparks of anticipation among the fans; the 25th anniversary of the Half-Life series is pretty close. In other words, Valve may be planning to bring the title with official support on Steam Deck. To add more, the title also got a completely new build that has received a plethora of file depots and other changes. It is dubbed as a test build by the devs and contains resources relevant to the Half-Life engine.

Valve could be intending to do something else, or simply add an in-game event for the players to celebrate the anniversary. The most viable theory suggests that the team will add the official Half-Life support to Steam Deck to celebrate the series’ 25 anniversary. However, many have found this to be quite a disappointing option for such a significant event and want something more robust for the franchise instead. 

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All in all, we suggest taking the brewing rumors with a grain of salt. The devs at Valve may decide to do something entirely unrelated to the assumptions after all. 

The original Half-Life has played a gargantuan role in shaping the gaming industry, especially the FPS genre. Valve’s debut title was critically praised upon release in 1998 for Windows, boasting innovative graphics, gameplay, and narrative elements for its time. Multiple mods for the game eventually spawned as notable titles like Counter-Strike and more.

The modding scene has also kept the community thriving over the many years by bringing visual and other gameplay upgrades. For instance, the first Half-Life entry received the long-awaited ray tracing mod, which was in high demand for years. The slew of Half-Life 2 episodes also stood out firmly among the fans, leaving many questions unanswered. However, the devs have been quiet regarding the future of the series and Half-Life 3.